‘Wired’ magazine feature spotlights The Asheville Map

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

1

A recent Wired magazine feature spotlighted beautiful maps included in the Atlas of Design. One of said maps is The Asheville Map, created by professional cartographer Bruce Daniel, who with his wife Nora have created an amazing work that is sold around Asheville, with proceeds that benefit MANNA Food Bank.

From the magazine:

The maps in this gallery were selected by a panel of cartographers and designers for the second volume of the Atlas of Design.

Even so, there’s still an element of subjectivity involved in curating a book of well-designed maps, says Daniel Huffman, a freelance cartographer in Madison, WI, and one of the volume’s three editors, along with Sam Matthews and Marty Elmer. Cartographers submitted nearly 300 maps, and a panel of judges picked 32 to include in the atlas. The focus was on aesthetics, rather than data analysis or other technical aspects of mapmaking. “Every map in the competition had some judges like it and some judges not,” Huffman said. “Not all the styles are to everyone’s taste.”

What the maps that made the final cut have in common, Huffman says, is a coherent vision. Some borrow their aesthetic from historical maps and art forms. Others are purely modern. But each is consistent in its chosen style.

Last year, The Asheville Map was selected for inclusion in the Atlas of Design. More:

Best Local Map has announced that its inaugural product, The Asheville Map™, has been selected for inclusion in the NACIS Atlas of Design. The book, scheduled for publication this fall, spotlights “examples of the world’s best cartography.” The paper map of central and metro Asheville is true to scale using an aesthetically rendered topographic base. Highly detailed, including restaurants, breweries, art spaces, entertainment venues, parks, neighborhoods and landmarks, the map articulates the local fabric of the Asheville area. A digital guide accessed through the map’s Smart Corners links to the hundreds of curated points of interest labeled on the map.

This honor comes just six months after The Asheville Map’s first printing which has been receiving praise from Asheville visitors, residents and press for its style and content.